Some Pastoral Thoughts on the Man, Bruce Jenner

I am putting aside our study on the fruit of the Spirit to speak about what is happening in the media concerning Bruce Jenner who now calls himself Caitlyn. Unfortunately, this is taking our country by storm. Never mind our larger issues such as Isis, crime in our streets, and ever-growing tax burden. We are focusing our attention on the perverse.

Who is Bruce Jenner? Many of you may not remember that in 1976 he was an American hero. Our country had just survived Watergate, the Vietnam War had recently ended and America needed something to give them new hope. It was brought by Bruce Jenner in the Montreal Olympics. He came to international attention as a Decathlete, winning the gold medal in the men’s Decathlon event. He became an overnight star. He was briefly Erik Estrada’s replacement in the TV series Chips.

Today he has more TWEETS than the President of the United States. Instead of being hailed as an Olympic hero, he is being hailed for his sex change. In fact he is going to be given the ESPY award this year (which stands for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly award) named in honor of the late Arthur Ashe. This award is given to those who “reflect the spirit of Arthur Ashe…by showing courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost.” I do not feel that he is a man of courage but the cost to our society will be high.

He is being praised by the LGBT community as well as NAMBLA (the North American Man Boy Love Association. This name says it all! What a horrible ally in sin!).

Many want to use the Bible to support homosexual and transgender issues. Those who support these perversions believe that the Bible is irrelevant or improperly translated. For example the book of Leviticus does teach that certain fabrics should not be mixed and that certain animals should not be eaten. These laws were only for Israel. The purpose of these restrictions was to keep them distinct from other nations. Jesus teaches us the same thing today. He tells us to be holy as He is holy. The apostle John tells us to avoid the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (I John 2:16).

This week on the radio, the host was asking the callers whether or not God was honored with someone who got a sex change. He tried to justify it by saying was God honored if you got contact lenses that changed the color of your eyes or dyed your hair. Eye color and hair does not change your gender and this does not dishonor God but changing your gender does.

What does the Bible say about our gender? In Genesis 2:7: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being.” In verse 18: “And the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone, I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Our sexual identity is a creation ordinance. We each have specific roles. Adam’s function was to lead. Eve, as the helper, was to supply what was lacking in him. The word helper means “like opposite him or according to his opposite”. This is how God created us.

No matter how Bruce Jenner changes his outward appearance, he still has the chromosomes of a man. He is not, and never will be, in God’s eyes as he claims “the new normal”.

In Deuteronomy 22:5 we read: “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.” Abomination is a strong word. This would drive us to be careful about maintaining gender distinctions. This verse has nothing to do with equality among men and women. This violates God’s standards. In this passage Moses is particularly talking about gender attitudes and sexual practices that violate God’s order. The fact that the pagan peoples were notorious for such practices is supposed by a Babylonian proverb which tells of an Amorite saying to his wife, “You be the man, I’ll be the woman.”

In I Corinthians 11:3 Paul says: “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is man, and head of Christ is God.” Man’s headship is not based on man’s fall into sin but on God’s creative act. Man is given the role of headship because God designed it to be so. Paul points out that man was made first, then the woman was made from the man and for the man (11: 8, 9). Why did God do things in this way? To ask that is rather like asking why are there weeds? They just are. And man’s headship is there! God put this order in creation because it pleased Him to do so.

Every person, including Bruce Jenner, who wants to change their gender is sinning against God regardless of how they feel trapped in a body of the other sex. The further as a nation we get from Godly morals, we will see more and more perverse things taking place. Let us as Christian people hold fast to the truth of God’s word.

What is the definition of sin? The shorter Catechism is: “Sin is any want of conformity unto or, transgression of the law of God.” This is His standard regardless of what we are anyone else says. The apostle Paul said in Romans 3:4: “Let God be true and every man a liar.”